Paul. No, I don't see it as racist. Its just part of a treaty extending our market and customs border from what was the UK to the EU. Would that imply that prior to the extension of unrestricted movement to the EU it was racist to allow movement between the nations of Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England but not Europe? And if we consider the crown dependencies of the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, then they're not either part of the UK or EU, but movement is allowed from them for historical reasons. Sometimes these things are just pragmatic, based on geography and local "common market" treaties. If other countries wanted to enter into similar treaties with the EU and meet the necessary criteria - eg Turkey, Georgia, Morocco, Israel, etc - I'd be happy for them to join and, interestingly, I believe residents of French overseas departments do count as EU citizens (I'd have to check that). One perhaps also needs to remember the idea of a European union comes from Winston Churchill's suggestion of a "United States of Europe" to reduce the likelihood of another European war. Further, do you consider it racist not to allow free movement from the US to the UK for workers? Again, if there was a treaty allowing two-way freedom of movement between the UK (or EU) and the USA I would be happy with that, or there could be a similar agreement between the UK and India? However, given that freedom of movement is closely tied to single markets and common customs areas I'm not sure how practicable that would be. Of course, if the UK had taken a different path following WW2 and allowed citizens from the previous colonies to retain their British Citizenship and right of abode in the UK then I would have been comfortable with that as well. As it is that wasn't the approach of successive governments, instead they took a path to become closer to our European neighbours while letting the previous colonies choose their own futures. As the Americans say, we are where we are: perhaps things might evolve different later on but I suspect the effects of climate change may be to limit global travel and trade? To summarise, in principle I'm not against free movement globally but from a pragmatic point of view I think it's necessary to look at geography and history in developing it, and consider the practical requirements of implementing common markets, customs and travel areas.
Michael Ixer ● 2533d